Robert Mueller, director of the FBI -- our nation's domestic intelligence agency -- admitted at a talk that he was a click away from sending his bank account information to phishers. He has been banned from online banking by his wife, he says. (Source: James Martin/CNET )

FBI Chief reveals his own brush with online dangers

Cybersecurity is indeed everyone's
problem. With a majority of U.S. citizens woefully
underprepared to recognize or deal with threats, phishers and other
malicious users are reaping ill-gotten profits.

If you
feel bad for almost believing some of those phishing
schemes don't be too hard on yourself. After, all, you're
no more careless than FBI Director Robert Mueller.

That's
right -- the chief of the nation's domestic intelligence agency
admitted at a Commonwealth Club of California talk that he almost let
his own personal information fall
into the clutches of phishers. He had received an email,
purportedly from his bank, that looked "perfectly legitimate".
It asked him to verify account information.

He began to fill
out a response, then realized that it "might not be such a good
idea". He states, "[I was] just a few clicks away
from falling into a classic Internet phishing scam... [I] barely
caught [myself] in time... [I] definitely should have known
better."

Worried he might have perhaps committed past
careless indiscretions, he changed his passwords on all his
accounts. However, his boss -- his wife -- remained furious
after hearing that he almost fell for such a scheme. She issued
an order to him -- "It is our money. No more internet banking
for you!"

Ironically the news comes just as the FBI
announced at a special press conference in Los Angeles that it had
nabbed 33 phishers in California, Nevada, and North Carolina, and
100, in total, around the globe. Many of the phishers were from
Eastern Europe, particularly Romania. Targeting bank
information, the phishers were busted by "Operation Phish Phry",
the largest anti-phishing FBI sting to date. Describes Director
Mueller, "It's the largest international phishing case ever
conducted."

Director Mueller delivered some other
interesting analysis at the talk. He said that terrorists are
using Google
Earth as a tool to help them plan attacks. He also took an
audience question about whether people should fear the FBI reading
their emails more than a teen hacker. He insisted that the FBI
does not read emails without a court order of some kind, stating, "I
would worry about that teenage hacker more than you should worry
about us. I'm comfortable with the stances we've taken."

He
says that if you commit cybercrimes the FBI will be coming for you.
He warns, "You hack, you get caught. You are going to
jail... You are not going to get a good job afterward. You are going
to be identified as a person who has broken the law."

"Can anyone tell me what MobileMe is supposed to do?... So why the f*** doesn't it do that?" -- Steve Jobs